MARJORIE MAYO recommends an accessible and unsettling novel that uses a true incident of death in the Channel to raise questions of wider moral responsibility
His better halves
PETER MASON welcomes the national tour of an irreverent show that switches the spotlight to the wives of Henry VIII
SIX APPEAL: Nikki Bentley as Catherine of Aragon with the cast of Six The Musical
MIK SABIERS wallows in a night of political punk and funk that fires both barrels at Trump
Reasonable radicalism, death in Abu Dhabi, locked-room romance, and sleuthing in the Blitz
SIMON DUFF recommends a new album from renowned composer and oud player Anour Brahem.
JAMES WALSH has a great night in the company of basketball players, quantum physicists and the exquisite timing of Rosie Jones
A New Awakening: Adventures In British Jazz 1966 - 1971, G3, and Buck Owens
JAMES WALSH is moved by an exhibition of graphic art that relates horrors that would be much less immediate in other media
Six The Musical
Vaudeville Theatre, London
TOBY MARLOW and Lucy Moss’s breathless, modern take on the fate of Henry VIII’s six wives now has a “forever” home at the Vaudeville in the West End, but it’s also about to embark on a British tour, beginning with Stockton-on-Tees and continuing through to Oxford at the back end of next year.
If it’s coming near you, then discard any prejudices you might have about glitzy, in-your-face musicals — and indeed about King Harry himself. Buy a ticket: it’s great fun.
Six has made its name with catchy pop songs, sparkly costumes, cutting wit and the novel idea of staging a 21st century gameshow in which Henry’s resurrected wives — all more or less divas — are pitted against each other to find out who was the most wronged.
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